from The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

Etymologies

From English dialectal pawk, a trick.

(American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)

From pawk + -y. (Wiktionary)

Examples

But there are records of Antony which represent him as a far more genial and human personage; full of a knowledge of human nature, and of a tenderness and sympathy, which account for his undoubted power over the minds of men; and showing, too, at times, a certain covert and "pawky" humour which puts us in mind, as does the humour of many of the Egyptian hermits, of the old-fashioned Scotch.

In consequence the movie is visually remarkable as it tries to keep up with the frenetic activities of secret agent Ethan Hunt Tom Cruise accepting an impossible mission for the fourth time and his new trio of likable operatives: beautiful, resourceful Paula Patton, pawky computer wizard Simon Pegg and constantly fretting analyst Jeremy Renner.

Ye see, "says he, shaking his pawky old head," the day ye find a priest sittin 'in the court at Trinity is a day ye'll be able to skate over Dublin Bay from Bray to Balbriggan - an' as for seein 'St Stephen's Green from the court, well, I doubt if even ould Faylen could see that far from heaven, where he's been this five-and-thirty years, God rest his soul.

'The Stickit Minister' and its companion stories; plenty of humour, too, of that dry, pawky kind which is a monopoly of 'Caledonia, stern and wild'; and, most plentiful of all, a quiet perception and reticent rendering of that underlying pathos of life which is to be discovered, not in Scotland alone, but everywhere that a man is found who can see with the heart and the imagination as well as the brain.

Indeed she was something of a Langtry in these places, her extraordinary prettiness never failing to excite glances, stares, and all manner of looks, furtive and admiring, or gallant and lighthearted, from the rather pawky young men of the district.